Jürgen Klopp articulated his immense pride after leading his Liverpool team to an unforgettable 4-0 win over FC Barcelona at Anfield.
The Reds, facing a three-goal deficit from last Wednesday’s first leg at Camp Nou, scored four times without reply to earn their spot in the Champions League final for the second season in succession.
Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum each netted twice as perhaps the greatest European night in Anfield’s history unfolded.
It’s a special night, very special. Winning against Barcelona is obviously one of the most difficult things in the world of football; winning against Barcelona when you are actually 3-0 down makes it not easier. We had to score four goals and it was not allowed to concede pretty much. That made it, again, more difficult. So we didn’t really think about it, to be 100 per cent honest. We tried to build on the performance at Barcelona, all the good things we did there, and tried to win the game step by step. We have the ball, we attack with whatever we have – they have the ball, we defend with whatever we have. And that made it a really special game. It was really difficult to play against us tonight.
What the boys did – this mix, again, of big heart and football skills – is unbelievable. But then, how we know – and we didn’t learn it in the first game, we knew it before already – if you have chances you have to score because otherwise you get punished. Tonight we scored, in different ways. I said it so often now, the thing that made it really possible – and I said to the boys before the game, ‘I don’t think it’s possible but because it’s you I think we have a chance’ – is because they are really mentality giants.
It’s unbelievable after the season we played, the games we had, the injuries we have now in this moment. If you go out there and ask who bet a penny on us, I don’t think you’ll find a lot of people. And then going out there and putting a performance like this on the pitch is unbelievable. I’m really proud to be the manager of this team. What they did tonight is so special and I will remember it forever. I don’t know if it happened before and I don’t know if it can happen again. The boys did it and it was brilliant.
